Circumstance
by The Nixon
Summary: ShikaHina with implied NaruSaku. Hinata's been having a really bad day and is upset, Shikamaru helps simply by saying what he thinks. Terrible at summaries. My first fanfic


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto does.

Circumstance

There were many things Konoha's lazy genius didn't like. Work because it was troublesome, woman because they were noisy and troublesome and also having a female Hokage that makes him do three times as many missions in one day compared to the rest of Konoha's chuunin. This was basically making him find women more troublesome as they made him do troublesome tasks.

Already the Godaime had sent him on two D rank missions and a C rank. Although the D ranks were quite easy, simple tasks such as clearing an area farm land of weed, and some pest control, which he hoped Shino never found out about. They only lasted an hour each, but still to him that was two hours of unwanted work.

And as for the C rank Tsunade had told him it was only to get rid of a small boar that was bothering the farmers. Like hell it was that thing was huge and Tsunade was probably in her office laughing at the trouble it put him through. Although he should have known that if it really was a small boar it would have been a D rank as well.

Shikamaru headed to his favourite field when he noticed someone was already occupying it, someone familiar.

Not only were they in the field but his usual spot as well however he couldn't just ask them to leave since it wasn't technically his field so he just walked to a space about two meters from the other person, who he then noticed was actually Hyuuga Hinata, _she looks sad, that's unusual Hinata never seems sad about anything maybe I should ask if she's alright. _

Shaking his head he told himself it was her problem and getting involved with a woman's problems could only be troublesome.

Hinata's day just seemed to be getting worse, this morning she had been training with Neji again like she had been doing for the past few years now but like always she failed to beat her cousin and when she saw her father he had a disappointed look on his face again. This time however he called her into the house for a private discussion on her training. In the end he had simple told her that after all her training she still was only doing as good against Neji as what she did when they first started training so she needed to improve.

After that she had a mission with Kiba and Shino although the mission was a success she felt she had only been a burden because she couldn't even hold the cat they had to recover which ended up delaying the mission by an hour when they were forced to chase it again. Damn cat had some stamina.

Then when she got back she had seen Naruto. Usually seeing the overactive blonde made Hinata feel happy, but this time he was talking to the pink headed Kunoichi from his team and heard him tell her that he liked her and then the pink haired girl said she felt the same for him. Hinata had turned away and left after that not wanting to see or hear anymore.

So here she was thinking she was useless and thinking of things she should have done or said to change that, when she noticed the lazy ninja about two meters from her, she wondered how anyone could become so relaxed and calm in such a short amount of time, and how anyone could just not care what other people did or said.

She had seen him a lot since Kurenai-sensei got pregnancy. He didn't even care when she knocked him out with a mallet whilst in one of her mood swings. (Even now Hinata wonders where her sensei got a mallet from.) He had complained about it after he regained consciousness but only by calling it troublesome and stating that he was taking every piece of ninja equipment, cutlery and any object with the potential to become a projectile out of her house for the duration of the pregnancy and he himself would bring some form of tranquiliser in case he felt his life was ever in danger again.

Kiba had found it hilarious until Kurenai turned on him, and then on to Shino who had jut been standing their completely innocent. Needless to say many bugs were lost that fateful day.

"What is it is something on me?" Hinata was quickly pulled out of her thoughts on Shikamaru's calmness, Kurenai and mallets after hearing his usual bored voice and she realised that whilst thinking she had been staring at him, embarrassed she quickly looked away as she gained a familiar blush. "n-no S-Shikamaru-san I was j-just wondering about something and d-didn't r-realise I was staring. I'm s-sorry."

"I see. What's wrong Hinata?" Hinata seemed surprised when he asked this, many people including her got the impression that being concerned for others was too troublesome for Shikamaru and instead of answering his question she asked him "w-what do y-you mean Shikamaru-san?"

"I mean why are you upset? When I came here you seemed sad about something and you spaced out just now so you must have been thinking hard, also you're out here alone. The only times you are on your own in your free time is when your watching Naruto, and last you've came here where there are rarely any people so you must not have wanted anyone to come talk to you."

_That was the most I've ever heard him say at one time before. Wait did he really pay that much attention to me. _The idea that Shikamaru took notice of her made Hinata feel a bit happier for some reason and she thought she could tell Shikamaru her problems, after all it was well known that he was a genius so he could probably help.

"W-well my f-fathers been really disappointed w-with me in my t-training b-because I still can't beat Neji a-after all this time so I m-must not be improving." well that was one problem out and Hinata stared at her companion who seemed to be deep in thought.

Finally he replied "are you doing worse in your fights against Neji then what you used to?"

"n-no why?"

"Well from what I've seen Neji has become very strong in the last few years and if your not doing worse then what you used to be that means the difference in skill is the same, which also means you've improved just as greatly as Neji has. Your father just doesn't notice because the outcome of the fights always seems similar. You should get your father to watch you fight another member of the clan and perhaps he could see your skills better."

That actually made a lot of sense she had to be improving she couldn't be at the same level as she was years ago, but what about how badly she had done on her mission earlier.

"b-but Shikamaru I couldn't even keep hold of a cat earlier in my mission"

"Was it a little brown and white one with the red ribbon on its ear?" that cat always seem to get away two or even three times a week. Shikamaru didn't understand how the owner had enough money to keep having ninja sent out to recover it.

"Yes but how did you know?" he started to unzip his chuunin vest and began to pull up his shirt making her cheeks so red they were probably at a higher level of blush to whenever Naruto was near her_._ This interest quickly faded when she saw the numerous scratches and bite marks that covered his chest. "What happened how did you get all those."

His expression was very serious now as if what he had to say was extremely important. "That cat is an extremely evil troublesome little creature it kept running in and out of my team and as soon as it got me separated from the others it lured me into an alley and ambushed me, took me a few minutes to get the troublesome thing under control."

Hinata couldn't help it she just burst out laughing for the first time that day, she didn't know if it was because Shikamaru a genius and ninja was caught off guard by a cat or because he actually believed the cat had intentionally separated him from his team so that it could ambush him.

"oi it's not funny that cat should never be underestimated" this only made Hinata laugh even more, "fine then, laugh I suppose that's all your problems sorted now right." her laughing died down immediately and she seemed sad again, Shikamaru couldn't help but feel guilty he had been happy seeing the Hyuuga Heiress laughing and it didn't seem right for this girl to be so sad, she was the only one Shikamaru would even consider not classing as troublesome. (Ino, Sakura and Tsunade had worse rage issues then normal women, Tenten carried to many sharp objects for him to trust her and Temari as well as his mother had an odd tendency to become incredibly violent for unknown reasons.)

It was Hinata who broke the awkward silence that had enveloped them "well on my way home I saw Naruto. He told Sakura he liked her." she paused before continuing "a-and s-she said t-that she l-liked him to so n-now I c-can't be with Naruto." she suddenly lunged forward wrapped her arms around him in a forced and slightly painful hug and she started crying on his shoulder. Shikamaru had no idea what to do now and he couldn't tell if the red he could feel rising across his face was from a blush or a lack of oxygen. _Troublesome emotional woman_.

"W-Why d-doesn't he l-like me, does h-he think I'm weak o-or stupid or-" Shikamaru couldn't listen to her saying such things about herself anymore so he quickly cut her off.

"No that's not it at all, their just themselves they both like each other because that's who they are. There are only two things that really bring people together those are circumstance and the people themselves, circumstance puts them in different situations together and even if other people set them up or talk them into it they end up together because they like the other person for who they are it has nothing to do with you and so it can't be your fault." then he added as an after thought "at least that's what I believe"

"But then what about me? Now N-Naruto's with Sakura w-who am I going to be with." part of Shikamaru wanted to tell her she could be with him but given the situation that would probably seem strange.

_(1) This helped Chouji so maybe I can adapt it a little to help Hinata_ he thought before continuing "I told you if they are themselves then you are you. Thinking of how happy other people are is pointless and it will only be troublesome for you." he removed him self from her arms and grasped her shoulder firmly making sure she faced him, he smiled, "You are a shy but strong woman who cares for and you helps others whenever you can, someday the circumstances will make someone notice that and they will love you for who you are and you will love them as well. Until then live comfortably and do what you want whenever you can."

He released her shoulder and looked around he knew they had been here along time and he was getting hungry "Hinata I'm getting hungry would you like to go to Ichiraku's with me?" for a moment she didn't reply but then she quickly smiled. He looked at the girl who had been crying less then a minute ago and although he thought her smile was beautiful he couldn't help but think one thing _how do females change their emotions so quickly? _

"Yes Shikamaru I would like that very much." she got up still holding onto his arm but before they moved Shikamaru began making hand seals and used his signature jutsu the Kagemane on a brown and white cat with a ribbon in it's ear.

Walking over to the cat Shikamaru had an oddly sinister grin on his face.

"Payback's normally quite troublesome for me but since you're here I think it might be worth it. Right my little friend?"

"Shikamaru don't even think about harming such an adorable little thing"

The cat seemed to look at Shikamaru with a large amount of fear in its eyes. _Hey its you, you're not angry about that alley incident are you. I SWEAR IT WAS JUST A JOKE I DIDN'T THINK MY CLAWS WOULD MAKE YOU BLEED. OR MY TEETH I WAS JUST GOOFIN AROUND YOU KNOW. Right? _(Very scared cat). Sadly for the cat his begging was just a lot of frantic hissing and purring to the Human currently holding him prisoner

Shikamaru had a theory that this cat kept running away because the owner gave it too much attention and he already knew the perfect revenge.

"Well Hinata if you want we can take the troublesome creature to Ichiraku I bet the poor thing is just dieing for some attention and after that we can take it back to the owner"

_You wouldn't let her, please anything anything but that. You don't know what it's like having people touching you and scratching you in places all day. Noooooooooooooooooooooo." _Again all that registered to the two was a lot of frantic hissing

Shikamaru thought Hinata looked even more beautiful when she smiled as she picked up the now struggling cat he didn't try to throw out or hide this thought after all the only thing he could think of better then taking revenge on a cat was watching a beautiful girl carry out the revenge for you. Much more enjoyable and less troublesome.

Circumstance had been good to Shikamaru that day he got to watch the clouds and had also had dinner with Hinata whilst avenging the many injuries that had been dealt to his chest. And now he felt something gently and almost shyly take hold of his hand, he smiled and held the hand on his in return.

For Hinata the circumstances had been pretty bad to start with but she could only see them getting better she even felt she had gained some confidence during her conversation with Shikamaru since she hadn't stuttered through a lot of the things she said. Hell she had enough confidence to yell at Shikamaru when he suggested dropping the cat in one of the bars cookers on the grounds that it was less troublesome then taking it to a home for someone to pick up. And now going home she had even gathered the courage to hold his hand and he held it back.

It was even because of the circumstance (although some very bad ones) that Kiba and Shino just happened to be visiting Kurenai at the hospital right now during another mood swing. You could even go as far as saying circumstance was the reason the nurse forgot about the tool tray she left sitting right next to Kurenai's bed and now Kurenai had to visit and check up on them instead thinking she would be unable to really regain their trust after this or even stop Kiba screaming for someone to protect him when she was around for a very long time.

And as for the cat let's just say circumstance had been a true bitch to the end. And the cat vowed never again to ambush a Shinobi and now by some unknown circumstances Naruto and Konohamaru were walking past, completely clueless and oblivious to the cat walking right beneath the branch the cat was in. The cat just had to break it's vow.

**END**

**(1)-** Their was an episode where Chouji was upset i think and shikamaru helped him, so thats what i was referring to their.

Also I'm quite sure thats not how pregant people act, at least I hope they don't. I just thought it was funny when I had the idea.

This is my first fanfic so if it's not very good I'm sorry, but please review anyway and let me know what you think.

Thank you anyone who reads this.


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